


From the Mud, He Blossomed

by lordkrisdemort



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Royalty, M/M, Murder, Yixing's Birthday Week 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:41:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26988421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lordkrisdemort/pseuds/lordkrisdemort
Summary: And they used to chant his name with a mix of awe and fear;“General Zhang!”
Relationships: Kim Junmyeon | Suho/Zhang Yi Xing | Lay
Comments: 6
Kudos: 35
Collections: Challenge #8 — Tales of the Past





	From the Mud, He Blossomed

* * *

They said he was an anomaly.

“You’re surrounded now. Lay down your sword, General.”

Born from a low-life family, his figure was almost petite if only not for the slightly muscular limbs, his face small and almost maiden-like. The root of the anomaly was in his brain and heart; his mind quick and ambitious, his soul strong and hungry. He knew how to rise from the pit he was born into. He slowly yet steadily slithered his way to the capital city, spreading whispers of a firm willed young man with bright wit. And he made it; he arrived at the palace, walked through the halls within grandiose walls with his chin a little higher than anyone else on his rank.

Just like the lotus flower; from the mud, he blossomed.

And they used to chant his name with a mix of awe and fear;

“General Zhang!”

Awed by the way he knew what to say and who to kill, they also feared for the things he could possibly do and have with such skills. No one dared to question him when the Emperor himself never did so.

He was the pet who wasn’t hesitant to bite back if needed. He was the free soul who chose to wander around the most powerful man in the kingdom.

“Lay down your sword! It’s an order from the royal family!”

But even the strongest man with a soul so free could be bound by one thing he always overlooked; his flaming desire.

“It’s an order!”

It was inevitable that the fire inside him licked far beyond its actual reach. And when was the start of what had burnt his entire sanity?

The moment he laid eyes on the Emperor’s betrothed, the Third Prince of Goryeo.

Was it love? Was it lust? Was it a mere attraction to beauty? He could never seem to put the right word for what he felt for the Third Prince, who had preferred to be called by his real name by the Emperor’s General; _Junmyeon._ A strange name to his tongue, a chant of pleasure in the illicit nights that they spent devouring each other on his beddings.

His strong feelings for Junmyeon then led him to a new trail of thoughts; one day, spent after the treacherous affair they had for the night, he had asked in a low growl, ‘ _how do I make you mine?_ ’

_‘Easy, love,_ ’ Junmyeon had whispered, breath warm and sweet, against his chin, ‘ _be the Emperor._ ’

Because only the Emperor could have the Third Prince of Goryeo.

And he decided that Junmyeon was worthy as a price to be won at the end of a long, horrifying fight.

“That’s enough, General Zhang. You’ve murdered our Emperor. What do you want now?”

Now he stands in the middle of the open court, surrounded by hundreds of soldiers he could never win against no matter how strong and skilled he was. He has always been the one to quickly find the way out of such a situation, but at the moment, he has no will to do it. He does _not_ want to walk away from this.

Freedom doesn’t seem so appealing to him now.

“General Zhang!” his understudy, Huang Zitao, screams again with his trembling voice, spear pointed at him. For a moment, he recalls those times when Zitao looked up to him as if he was one of the Gods. Now Zitao has finally seen his true form; a monster. “What do you want more, General Zhang?”

The top of the stairs that lead to the palace building is right behind him, and yet he can tell easily that Junmyeon is there. The now widower Emperor’s Consort must be standing behind him, because all of the eyes in front of him have been looking at him and what’s behind him simultaneously the whole time. Zitao’s eyes even lingered long enough back then when he announced the order from the royal family.

Thus, with his free hand, he stretches out and points far behind. “Him.”

Horror and distaste fill the air around him, and it feels a lot like home. Back when he was still in the mud, stepped over and never seen. Maybe he never blossomed at all.

“You know that’s impossible, General.” Zitao’s voice is starting to make him feel ill. “It’s already a treason for you to even be looking at the Emperor’s Consort in any way other than respect.”

He shakes his head, chuckling bitterly. “Boy, you still know not a single thing.”

“General Zhang, for murdering our Emperor Wu Yifan and his loyal guard Lu Han, you are now sentenced to death by burning. Lay down your sword now and come with us. I repeat, it’s an order from the royal family!”

“Royal family.” He repeats inaudibly.

Junmyeon wants his death then.

“Do I get to do one last thing?”

“General, your sword. Please.”

“Kim Junmyeon,” he shouts, knowing well the man can hear him, “I, Zhang Yixing, want to be with you always.”

“General, the sword!”

He takes another deep breath and continues. “So if you want me dead,” his shouting falters, “then I shall keep you with me even then.”

And with one swift move, he turns around and throws his sword up towards the palace.

It stabs right through the chest of the Emperor’s Consort.

They end up not waiting for the burning; multiple spears stab through his limbs, killing him right away.

He was the lotus flower; from the mud, he blossomed,

not knowing he would splatter blood on his white petals.

* * *


End file.
